John Taylor Watkinson (25 January 1941 – 21 September 2004) was a British
Labour Party politician, barrister and teacher.
He was educated at
Bristol Grammar School
Bristol Grammar School (BGS) is a 4–18 mixed, independent day school in Bristol, England. It was founded in 1532 by Royal Charter for the teaching of 'good manners and literature', endowed by wealthy Bristol merchants Robert and Nicholas Thorn ...
before reading
PPE at
Worcester College, Oxford. From graduation until 1971 he was a schoolmaster at
Rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
, and thereafter was called to the
Bar
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
* Chocolate bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud
* Bar (u ...
, where he practised on the
Midland Circuit.
Watkinson was elected as the
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
(MP) for
Gloucestershire West in the
October 1974 general election, but lost the seat in 1979 to the
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
Paul Marland.
Watkinson was on the moderate 'right' wing of the Labour Party, but was relatively unusual for a member of that bloc in voting for Britain's withdrawal from the
European Economic Community (EEC) during the
referendum on membership in 1975. He defected to the
Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
Fo ...
(SDP) in October 1981, and contested Gloucestershire West under his new colours in
1983
The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call.
Events January
* January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...
and
1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...
.
[''Times'', 15 October 1981.]
References
*''Times Guide to the House of Commons 1979''
*
External links
*
1941 births
2004 deaths
People educated at Bristol Grammar School
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Social Democratic Party (UK) parliamentary candidates
UK MPs 1974–1979
{{England-Labour-UK-MP-stub